Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Post Office Blues - Lorraine Bowen's new video
London Road Co-Op closed about three years ago due to a falling demand for flat caps, nylon girdles and long johns. It's now a cavernous hollow shell of a building with just a post office tucked away at the back, used almost exclusively by the ghastly revenants who stagger the jagged lengths of the thoroughfare's toxic ley-lines.
So when cabaret performer, funny lady and all round good egg Lorraine Bowen asked me to lend a hand with her new video, "Post Office Blues", I was there.
Lorraine took her place in the queue, respelendent in leopard-print coat, and a good foot taller than everyone else, while I lurked behind with the video camera, traing not to laugh too hard and she pretended to be an aeroplane, huffed, pouted, mimed the words and generally looked rather odd.
In a typical display of Britishness, with the exception of an over-heated youth who bellowed "We're gonna be on YouTube!" nobody turned a hair, which makes the final video all the funnier, as you see these little glances to the camera from customers, and people looking sidelong at Lorraine without wanting to be spotted staring.
Anyway, I think the finished film is hilarious, and a fitting tribute to a British institution which may well go the way of the Co-Op before too long.
Here it be:
Lorraine Bowen's Post Office Blues
Lorraine's MySpace
So when cabaret performer, funny lady and all round good egg Lorraine Bowen asked me to lend a hand with her new video, "Post Office Blues", I was there.
Lorraine took her place in the queue, respelendent in leopard-print coat, and a good foot taller than everyone else, while I lurked behind with the video camera, traing not to laugh too hard and she pretended to be an aeroplane, huffed, pouted, mimed the words and generally looked rather odd.
In a typical display of Britishness, with the exception of an over-heated youth who bellowed "We're gonna be on YouTube!" nobody turned a hair, which makes the final video all the funnier, as you see these little glances to the camera from customers, and people looking sidelong at Lorraine without wanting to be spotted staring.
Anyway, I think the finished film is hilarious, and a fitting tribute to a British institution which may well go the way of the Co-Op before too long.
Here it be:
Lorraine Bowen's Post Office Blues
Lorraine's MySpace
Labels: Lorraine Bowen Post Office Blues video London Road Brighton Co-Op
